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| “CHRISTIANS WILL be the Jews of the 21st
Century,” says an American Jewish lawyer. I think he is right. He warns
Christians to wake up to this threat before it is too late. He’s right
again. Jesus tells us, MT 5:10 Blessed are
those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
In Friday’s Sydney Morning Herald,
the cartoonist, Moir, drew a cartoon showing a terrorist’s kit. The
explosive was religion.for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Moir was sniping at religion in general. One letter writer was more forthright. He accused Church leaders of being paid indirectly by the Government, through rates relief and other benefits. So they shouldn’t have no public say about politics. He also said that they don’t know what they are talking about. He singled out Tim Costello and Harry Herbert. So many people are saying similar things. I’m not paranoid; a storm is gathering against followers of Jesus. Jesus warned that, if we want to follow him, this life is difficult and dangerous. He said, If anyone will come after me, let him
deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
To follow Jesus will put us at odds with the world. Is it worth
the risk to follow him?It’s not just cartoonists. It’s not just obscure letter writers in national newspapers. You heard the news this week. The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, delivered a very notable, very public address. He weighed into Christian leaders who dare to speak on political topics.He said they should stick to their job of comforting the troubled and stay out of questions like Australian involvement in Iraq or the shameful Tampa affair. Jesus said, Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the
same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
People will persecute when they don’t like our message. People
will persecute when they feel our behaviour implicitly criticises their
own behaviour. People will persecute when they feel we are not fitting
in with their way of life.An 18th Century evangelist was preaching one day that Christ died to save sinners. One woman in the audience was the wife of an English Lord. She flew into a rage and stormed out. “I'll have you know that ladies are not sinners!” she shouted at the preacher. People don’t like hearing that they are sinners. They hear that, and get angry. They look for a way to stop you preaching it. That is one source of persecution. In the 16th Century, over 2000 Anabaptists were drowned in the Rhein River for their faith. Both Protestants and Catholics persecuted Anabaptists. The reason was simple. The Anabaptists claimed that no one became a real Christian without a real, personal faith. People who had been baptised as babies and brought up as church attenders were offended to think that they might not be true Christians. So they persecuted the messengers. It’s always been like that. In the past, kings often killed messengers who brought reports of defeats on the battle field. Instead of tackling the problem, they just try to silence any mention that there is a problem. It’s the same as the trouble with Tangarra trains. People have known for years that drivers can use a flagstick to override the safety handles, or that a heavy driver could die and still keep enough pressure on the handles that the train would keep on going. But the authorities in State Rail told inspectors to remove those sections from their reports. No one wanted to know! Rulers and authorities also persecuted Christians in the past and still persecute us, because you can’t be a Christian and accept things as they are, and that threatens the status quo. I heard a fascinating lecture on mission some years ago, called, Mission from the Periphery. The speaker was a South American who had some involvement with Liberation Theology. A lot of evangelical Christians were wary about Liberation Theology because it seemed to be too political. But the speaker explained it from an evangelical perspective. He told how the gospel came to a group of villages along one of the great South American rivers. It was a bit of a surprise in fact for the Missionaries, because they had been working with officials and community leaders and getting nowhere. The first converts were poor people living along the river’s edge. One was a woman who lived with a man who fished and sold liquor when the fish weren’t biting. When she was converted, she realised that she was a child of God, that she was created for God’s good purposes. She stopped getting drunk. She decided to be faithful to her partner and expect his faithfulness. She took an interest in herself as well as in her neighbours, and so other people began to find her interesting. She was no longer that drunken no-good woman down on the river bank. It was hard at first for the man. She had changed, and he felt that she was critical of him because she wasn’t getting drunk with him any more. He beat her, but she didn’t swear at him or hit him back. Finally, he came to understand. She really had changed, and she wasn’t going to play by the old rules any more. He came to faith in Christ, too. They got married. Together, they decided not to drink alcohol at all, and to stop selling it as well. There were still times when the fish weren’t biting, but he was catching more when they were biting, because he wasn’t drunk now, and he had become a better fisherman. They lost some income from not selling liquor, but not all that much. And they were not spending their profits on liquor either, so they were managing better on what they got. They started another small business for the bad times, selling other things that people needed as they came past down the river. And people wanted to come to their shop, because, although they kept on talking about Jesus, they were nice people. Before long, the couple was earning more than they had ever earned before, they were tithing regularly to their church, and they were bringing their friends to Christ as well. That’s very nice so far, isn’t it? Well, because of the changes in their lives, couples like these had more money, were more in control of their lives, and began expecting more from the society they lived in. When no one in the village cared whether their kids went to school or not, the officials didn’t care whether or not the local school had books or toilets or safe playgrounds. But now they cared, and they expected that some of their taxes would go back into the schools. They expected police who didn't want a bribe before they would act on crimes. They expected to be consulted before the Government made any decisions about their villages. You’ve guessed it: there were some very angry officials around — and that anger went right to the top. Even in the country’s Government, there were people tho considered these villagers to be trouble–makers. Someone investigated. These trouble–makers were Christians. It must be the church’s fault. The Pastor was arrested. The deacons were threatened. It was persecution. But the pressure was on the bosses now. They weren’t quite so safe any more. They couldn’t look down on the village people, because the villagers had lifted themselves up —spiritually, eceonomically, politically. Except they hadn’t really lifted themselves at all: Christ had done it. Then some of the officials and even one or two of the politicians began to think long and hard about the gospel. And one or two even became Christians, and the pressure was onto the people above them. And there was more persecution... Christians have always had something to say about social and political issues. From around 1912 to around 1968, Evangelicals were often afraid to speak on social or political issues. In 1912, the Fundamentalist movement began, and it pushed for Christians to stick to the basics of the faith: the trinity, the virgin birth, the approaching return of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, the bodily resurrection of Christ and the reality of heaven and hell. The original fundamentalists were well meaning men. But they felt they were fighting a losing battle. Then Big Oil came along, with money. Standard Oil and companies like that poured money into the publication of fundamentalist books. Why did they do it? Because there was nothing in the beliefs of the Fundamentalists to say that Christians should speak out on social issues or march for political causes. And oil money kept it that way. Standard Oil bought Christian silence for nearly 60 years. Even now, we are shaking off those shackles. But you think about it. King Ahab attacked the prophet Elijah and called him, "The one who brings trouble on Israel.” Elijah said to Ahab’s face: “You are the one who brings trouble on Israel. You disobey God and you follow the Ba’alim.” Whenever he had a chance, Elijah pointed out to Ahab what he was doing wrong. Elijah wanted Ahab to repent. Ahab was a good leader, but he was a wicked man. He had a good man executed for blasphemy on the testimony of bribed witnesses, just so he could have that man’s vineyard to sit in when the sun got too hot. He was that kind of man. Elijah didn’t make a false division between politics and social justice. You can’t get social justice without the political will to bring it about, and you won’t get political will until the people hear and speak out about what they want. Isaiah condemned corrupt rulers. He said, See
how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her — but now murderers!
...Your rulers are rebels, companions
of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not
defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come
before them.
Prophets warned some kings against going to war, even though it
was a popular cause. Prophets warned kings against allowing the poor to
be oppressed. Prophets warned kings against having one set of laws for
the rich and another for the poor.Jesus continued the Prophetic habit. He called King Herod "...that fox". He described Jewish leaders as like whitewashed sepulchres. He depicts the Day of judgment as a day of separation between those who had acted to bring about change for the suffering and those who hadn’t acted to change things. Jesus revealed his passion for righteousness when he cleared the cheating money changers out of the temple. That was a direct challenge to and a massive criticism of the temple authorities and of the govenment itself, for allowing the trade to continue. Paul preached, “Jesus is Lord,” and that in itself was a political statement, because the Roman State insisted that Caesar was a god and that Caesar was Lord. The gospel message said that Caesar might kill the body, but that he was not the final authority for us. Peter told the Sanhedrin that Christians must obey God rather than man. John of the Revelation repeatedly shows the world powers chasing after Christians, pursuing them into caves and shelters, but never being able to defeat the people of God. Being a Christian will and must put you at odds with the world. It is never our task to pursue persecution for its own sake. One early Christian leader, Ignatius, was arrested and eventually killed for being a Christian and refusing to submit to Caesar. In his letters, he clearly looks forward to martyrdom. I’m not sure that he was really doing what God wants of us. Some people like being martyrs because they feel they win either way. If they escape persecution, they have won, and if they don’t escape it, God must be blessing them. So they go out of their way to get into trouble. That’s not Christian: that’s twisted! But, when persecution comes your way — whether physical, emotional, economic or social — learn to look up! Learn to see that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to you! If they beat you, rejoice! If they refuse to talk to you, praise God anyway! If they stop you buying and selling, plant a vegetable garden, and praise God! If they play with your mind, don't let them do it. Keep your focus, Remember Jesus’ own words, I have told you these things so that in
me you might have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take
heart! I have overcome the world!
We might be the Jews of the 21st Century. We might suffer persecution at the hands of people who hate God and hate Christ. But we can’t afford to go out without declaring the whole counsel of God. We can’t afford to suffer without achieving something. Under Queen Mary, many evangelical Christians were burned at the stake. Two were Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Nicholas Ridley, another bishop. Cranmer had been weak, and had given in at first to Mary, but finally he went to the stake, and stood for Christ. Hardly anyone remembers the persecuting leaders of the day. Mary is remembered, but who else? But even people who hardly knosw about Christianity and its history still know about Cranmer and Ridley. As the flames burned around them, Cranmer turned to Ridley, and, in a firm voice said, “May we this day light such a blaze that all England will be illuminated.” God answered that prayer. Persecution was soon limited, and peace returned. Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the
same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Suffering will come. When it does, rejoice, for you redemption is coming close! AMEN |
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| © Peter R. Green 2003. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. | |
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